Our layover day in San Juan de Nicaragua came about because JoAnne was going to catch a panga from here up the Caribbean coast to Bluefields and then on out to the Corn Islands to visit friends. The panga to Bluefields only goes one day a week, Wednesdays. Or, I should say only WENT one day a week, back when it was even running, as in past tense. But we didn’t know this until the Tuesday we arrived. The panga Eve, John and I needed to take back upriver to San Carlos, where’d we’d started our river trip six days …

Although we would spend two additional days on the river, one as a layover day in San Juan de Nicaragua on a tour of the colonial cemeteries, and the other on a ferry panga churning our way back up river to our origination point at San Carlos, this day would be our finale paddling. We woke up at the Delta House and clambered out of our beds and hammocks, gathering our gear up to go. By this day, our sixth on the river, we had our routine down. In no time at all, we had eaten our breakfast, packed our …